The present invention relates to a method, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a hub of a cycle or other wheel.
Various types of hubs for cycle and other wheels are developed. Four of these are disclosed in G.B. Patent No. 17,142 to Dawes; French Patent No. 475,722 to d'Armes; French Patent No. 452,387 to Trinks; and Italy Patent No. 716,342 to Edourdo. In Dawes' and Edourdo's patents, liners or reinforcements should be inserted into the integral spoke flanges, it takes at least 30 minutes to insert the reinforcements into positions, therefore, it takes at least 40 minutes to make one hub, the productivity thereof is very poor. In addition, both ends of the hub of Dawes' patent are expanded, and then, both ends are squeezed. In order to expand both ends of the hub, a mandrel should be inserted into the tube from which a hub is to be formed. After expansion, it is difficult to take the mandrel out of the tube. This method is impractical. In d'Armes' and Trinks' patents, the hubs thereof are generally manufactured by rolling process, a roller rotates or rolls around a tube from which a hub is formed. The outer peripheral surface of the tube is forced or compressed gradually or helically by the rollers so that a compression of the tube is not homogeneous. The tube may be deformed. In addition, a hub formed by this method requires at least 30 minutes, which is time consuming. The productivity thereof is also poor. A hub producing process was proposed and filed by the inventor in his prior U.S. patent application No. 06/828,595, filed Feb. 11, 1986, now abandoned. It takes about 3 minutes to produce one hub. But, the tube is not compressed homogeneously.
The present invention has arisen to improve the manufacturing of the hub so that the hub can be produced in a fast speed.